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Global news bulletin 18/04/2012

-On the second day of his trial, Anders Behring Breivik boasted that he had carried out “the most sophisticated and spectacular political attack in Europe since World War II” when he killed 77 people in Norway last summer. And he would do it again if he had the chance.

–North Korea said it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood the hermit state will push ahead with a third nuclear test.

-Nato foreign and defence ministers are set to meet in Brussels to discuss how to fund security forces in Afghanistan once international troops leave. Nato has agreed to start handing over security to Afghan forces, leaving them in full control from the end of 2014.

-Ten candidates, including the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and a former spy chief, have lost their appeal against disqualification from upcoming presidential elections in Egypt, according to official news agency egynews.

-A new poll yesterday showed voters are willing to give Mitt Romney a fresh look now that he is the certain Republican presidential nominee, and the former Massachusetts governor picked up public backing from the top GOP leaders in the House and Senate.

–Argentina‘s move to nationalize local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain’s Repsol, has scuppered years of planning by China’s Sinopec Group to buy the South American company, sources said.

–India is due to test fire a long-range inter-continental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.The locally-developed Agni-V missile has a range of more than 5,000km (3,100 miles) and is expected to be launched in the eastern state of Orissa.

-The United States eased sanctions on Myanmar yesterday to allow for certain financial transactions that support humanitarian, religious and other not-for-profit activities in the southeast Asian nation.

-Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has said in a letter to shareholders that he has been diagnosed with stage one prostate cancer. The Berkshire Hathaway boss said the cancer, detected in a routine test, was “not remotely life threatening”.

–WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has become a talk show host on a Russian backed channel. His first guest was Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Assange remains under strict bail conditions in England while he fights extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.